Ginia



. W. WOOD.

NTING MACHINE.

FILED APR.2.1918A WEB PRl APPLICATION Patented J 11110 24, 1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. WISE WOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO WOOD MACHINERY conronnrromor NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION 01! V13- GINIA.

WEB-PRINTING MACHINE.

Speciflcation of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24, 1919.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, HENRY A. WISE WOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Web-Printin Machine, of which the following is a speci cation.

This invention relates to the art of web printing, and the principal ob ects thereof are to provide for very materially ncreasmg the speed of a rotary web printlng press, particularly of the newspaper type, without increasing the normal tractive running strain upon the Web; without increasing the tendency to tear the web upon the indentation of the paper by means of the type; without necessitating the use of any better paper than that commonly employed at the present time; and more specifically, to accomplish these results simply by providlng a surplus of paper in a relatively loosened condition at the point and moment of 1mpression in order to release the web fromexcessive strain and compensate for the stretching effect due to the impression of the type thereon.

By accomplishin these results newspaper ofiices can materia ly increase their output with substantially one half the number of machines now used, occupying half of the space and employing half the number of press men, or still better they can prmt thelr edition in substantially one half the time. This is the most valuable of all considerations in the production of newspapers. Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing which is a longitudinal sectional view of a common form of rotary web printing press illustrating the application of this invention thereto.

A rotary newspaper printing machine takes paper from a roll, prints it upon one side, and then on the other, folds, cuts, and

delivers it in the form of a newspaper. Thespeed of this machine and its successful op-.

eration depend upon its freedom from paper breakage more than upon any other single factor. Presses in present day use have an ordinary running speed ranging fromtwenty-two thousand copies per hour per folding machine to thirty-slx thousand copies. Beyond the latter speed, paper breakage and the consequent wastage of paper and time become too great for practicability.

The impression of the sheet between the plate carryin cylinder and the impression cylinder, whic is covered with soft packing, is really an embossing operation, that is, the type has an embossing efiect upon the sheet. This is due to the fact that the type surfaces project beyond the normal surface of the sheet and act like teeth. This necessarily gathers more paper into the printing cylinders during the passage of each plate than would occur if it passed over the plates without impression. This embossing effect is seemingly minute, but it is sufficient to produce a condition of such tension that the occurrence of an additional unaccommodated strain u on the paper will almost invariably cause a reakage. It is this gathering up of the paper under strain upon the tooth-like type that creates the condition of danger for the paper, which requires only a weak spot, a crack in the web, a type out, or a slight overstrain upon it, to snap the web and throw the press into confusion.

Thus stoppages of the press for the purpose of clearing it of torn paper and threading it with a fresh length of paper frequently happen. They take up time, frequently as much as a quarter of an hour, that is seriously felt in the production of a newspaper, because, as is well understood, delayed news is no news, and papers that are late are unsalable. The newspaper is the most perishable of all industrial. products; also, delays frequently cause the loss of trains and so deprive out of town readers of their newspaper.

Now I find that a speed higher than those above mentioned places upon the paper of the existing type of press an immense overstrain and that this 1s what causes fracture when these hi her speeds areattempted, and has led to tile failure of many attempts which have been made to increase the usual speed.

Of course, the faster the web must be pulled forward the greater its tension, due to increased resistance, and furthermore the more ra idly ,the printing cylinders rotate the quic er is theblow delivered by the I aper is the. cheapest'of all This point hasbeeifdetermined by at the lower of the speeds heretofore vnamed,

the common run of paper furnished is that which will just about meet the requirements at that speed.

To eet all these, limiting conditions, oomprising the identation or weakenin of the paper by the tooth-like type is'ur ace, the

normal tractive running strain upon the web, and the. added tractive strain due to higher s eeds, without necessitating an increase in the quality andtherefore-in the cost of the paper, isthe object ofthis invention.

To accomplish this object I feed the aper to the press with what I term a flood eed, that is, I increase the speed of the paper as it approaches the printin cou les to a slightly higher velocity than t at o the surfaces of the printing couples. This results in bringing the paper atthe time of the ImPIBSSIOII into a loose condition so that although the t pe embosses it as above explained and its sharp corners abut against it and press it out of its plane with a higher velocity than has been accom lished heretofore, they do not have this e ect at an instant when the paper is held taut or is running in a taut condition, butvwhenit is slightly loose or free. Therefore the paper, when itis necessarily stretched to increase its surface slightly on account of the embossing operation, has at hand theslfrplus stock necessary to compensate for this action, and the stram otherwise present does not exist. I find that by t is invention I have been able to raise the normal running speed to over two hundred and -fiftay per cent. of what it has been heretofore, the maximum practicable speed to nearly two hundred per cent. thereof. In other words, instead of being limited to from twenty-two thousandto thirt -six thousand copies per hour per folder I o tain from sixty to seven tiy thousand copies per hour per folder. he extraordinary 1mportance of this may be seen from the fact that it has required several centuries of development to achieve the speed of twentytwo to thirty-six thousand copies of newspapers er hour, and that this has been achieved only by numerous very gradual steps in development, whereas, by this simple invention, the speed has been raised enormously in the revolutionary degree above indicated.

Referring now to the drawing, it shows so' an ordinary type of newspaper machine having plate cylinders A, and impression cylinders B constituting the printing couples, and a feeding roller or paper supplying device C which supplies the printing couple with paper from a paper roll D. This paper sup- I plyi n%{ device is shown as provided with tapes rupning around tape pulleys or rollers for the purpose of securing a more positive feed. Thls is but one of many wellknown paper supplying devices, any one of which may be adapted to the requirements of this invention. The web goes'from the rinting couples to an ordinary dr or dra t roll E which draws the paper out othe press to afolding machine F of any usual construction. Inkmg devices G of an ordinary pattern are shown. "I have also illustrated a driving means in the form of a shaft H and bevel gears for driving the rolls or drums C and E positively from the press.- These-drums 5C and E are driven at'a slightly higher sur-,

7 face speed than that of the printing couples A and B. This may be done b an increase throu h the gearing or by ma ing them of a sllg tly greater diameter than would be necessary to produce the exact speed of the printing coup1es.' The printin couples, of course, may be organized and riven in accordance with any of the usual printing machines on the market.

It has been thought necessary heretoforev to feed the paper at what is known as press speed, to the printing couples, thatis, havmg speed,between the web roll D or a feeding device as G and the rinting couples, the-speed of the latter. The main feature of this invention is that the incoming paper shall be fed" to the -printin couple faster than the surface s%ed o the printing couple. The drag ro er E is run, as is always the case, with a surface speed slightly faster than the printing couples, in order to kee the web taut between printing couples an folding machine. Therefore it has sufficient drawin -out capacity to take up such surplus of we as the flood feeding system throws into the machine. Whatever excess of paper accumulates inthe printing cylinders during the pasage of a printin plate will be drawn out of the cylmders by the dra roller during: the passage of the succee ing margin. Therefore, the printing cylinders never can accumulate, because of my flood feeding, more paper than is drawn away from them by the drag, roller during each revolution "of the printin cou le.. Thus, often'the looseness ofthe ood eed has served its urpose; it is gathered up by the drag roll and ceases to exist.

Heretofore it has been customary to run a web taut throughout the. whole length of the press, that is, om the paper supply to the folder, and, therefore, at the same speed printing couple to be free of tautness and strain and to supply an surplus paper needed for accomplishing t e embossing operation. This has enabled me to more than double the speed of a commercial newspaper press, and revolutionize the industry of newspaper printing.

Because of the flood of paper that comes to the first printing couple, more paper passes through the first printing couple than is actually needed by it, and this paper it is that floods the second printing couple; that is to say, the first printing couple gathers the paper up, as it were, by minute increments between the lines of type, and passes the sum of these increments on to the second couple. The flood as applied to the first printing couple is made suflicient to cause this to occur.

Although I have shown and described the invention as applied to a single type of rotary newspaper press, I am aware of the fact that it may be applied to other types of rotary web printing machines and be carried out in other forms without, departin from the scope of the invention as express in the claims. Therefore I do not wish to be limited in these respects but what I claim is 1. In a web printing machine, the combimeans and the printing couples free from 5 printing strain during the printing period.

2. In a web printing machine, the combination with one or more rotary printing couples, of means for feeding a web to the printing couples at a feeding velocity 40 slightly in excess of the printing velocity of the printing couples, so that a slight excess of paper shall be fed to the said couples.

3. A web printing machine comprising one or more rotary printing couples, and

means for feeding a web to the printing couples comprising a feeding device having a feeding speed slightly in excess of that of the printing couples.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto aflixed my signature.

HENRY A. WISE WOOD. 

